Tackling Poverty with Education

Fact: Poverty around the world is restricting the potential of a whole generation of children & youth.
Fact: The lack of education, in turn, contributes more towards extreme poverty.
Fact: For the first time ever, an end to extreme poverty worldwide, is possible
Fact: This task lies on our shoulders and we must all take responsibility for contributing to this goal: governments, organisations, businesses and individuals alike, because if we don't ask for it, then nothing will be done.

‘Save the Children’ is one of the thousands of organizations that share these thoughts. 'Save the Children' is a leading independent organization creating real and lasting change for children in need around the world. It is a member of the International Save the Children Alliance, comprising 27 national Save the Children organizations working in more than 100 countries.
'Save the Children' strives to ensure the well-being of impoverished children all around the world.

Education plays a key part of this work. Education saves lives by teaching children: how to protect themselves from danger; about good nutrition; disease prevention; improves their chances of making a successfull living; and through this helps them escape extreme poverty. Schools, in many cases, also provide a safe zone for children affected by armed conflict.

So it is not so much about charity but about delivering justice. Poverty is a vicious cycle which education has the capacity to break. If you feed a child suffering from the many attrocities of extreme poverty, he/she will live for a day. Educate that child and he or she will build their own way out of poverty, will contribute towards the community and the overall uplifting of that society.

Poverty restricts access to the very education that would eraddicate it. For millions of children living in poor communities, the costs of school fees and school uniforms is far too high, especially when their more basic necessities like food and water can barely be met.

Yet education is vital to lift the wellbeing of poor communities, 'Save the Children' provides support from: drop in centres where working children can access education, to building schools and training teachers in rural communities with no school facilities. It runs early childhood education classes in some of the most difficult environments children live in: for example, in the Dauladtia brothel community in Bangladesh. The children start to learn through play as well as receiving nutritional supplements that help keep them healthy.

Executive Director of Save the Children in New Zealand, John Bowis, said, "While we call on all organisations and individuals to help in the battle to end poverty – it is essential that governments, play their part in particular, as a large donor, and lift aid contributions."

Save the Children is a member of the GCAP (Make Poverty History) coalition, and like thousands of other organizations, have joined forces to strive to eradicate extreme poverty together.

Daamini Shrivastav,

Rohit Hariharan,

& AK.